Cal cop investigated for threatening tweets: ‘I will use my God given and law appointed duty to kill you’

A San Jose police officer is under investigation after his supervisors were alerted by BuzzFeed that he had been threatening #Blacklivesmatter protesters on Twitter, once writing, “Threaten me or my family and I will use my God given and law appointed duty to kill you #CopsLivesMatter.”

After the website notified the police department of Officer Phillip White’s tweets, the offensive tweets were deleted before the account was locked down, preventing anyone from accessing or commenting on it.

Addressing the tweets, San Jose Police spokesperson Sgt. Heather Randol told BuzzFeed, “We have forwarded the matter up the chain of command for review,” before promising, “We can provide a response upon the completion of the review process.”

White was recently featured by the San Jose Mercury News in a photo essay entitled: “Officer Phil White teaches gang prevention at Christopher Elementary School.”

In some of the offensive tweets, White uses “#CopsLivesMatter” working off of the popular #BlackLivesMatter hashtag used to protest the killing of African-Americans by police officers.

Referencing Eric Garner’s cries of “I can’t breathe” as he was choked to death by a New York City police officer, White wrote, “By the way if anyone feels they can’t breathe or their lives matter I’ll be at the movies tonight, off duty, carrying my gun.”

In another tweet, White noted the heavy rains and flooding Northern California had been having, writing, “Nothing like some torrential rain & wind to quell a protest. Let’s see how important this really is to them when they’re drenched.”

According to BuzzFeed, White is also an assistant coach for the Menlo College mens basketball team.

About the Author

Tom Boggioni is based in the quaint seaside community of Pacific Beach in less quaint San Diego. He writes about politics, media, culture, and other annoyances. Mostly he spends his days at the beach gazing at the horizon waiting for the end of the world, or the sun to go down. Whichever comes first.